1stVision, Author at 1stVision Inc. - Machine Vision Articles

July 17, 2023July 18, 2023

EFFI Flex2 Lights – What’s New?

EFFI Flex2 LED bar lights are the next generation modular lights with even more flexibility.

Series 1 vs. EFFI-Flex2 NextGen Series – courtesy of Effilux

Getting the lighting right is as important as choosing the right sensor, camera, and interface, in terms of machine vision success. Most all lights are “pre-configured” to a specific lighting geometry as well as wavelengths. Lighting is still tricky and in most cases, testing is needed with various configurations. If your samples are small in size and don’t require special handling or equipment, your imaging partner may offer a lighting lab in which they can test your samples to optimize lighting configuration.

But shipping samples and re-creating your conditions in a partner’s lab isn’t always practical, and you may want to do your own testing and configuration, taking advantage of your domain expertise and home-field advantage. With EFFI Flex2 lights, the standard components and range of settings yield 36 configurations in 1 light! How so? Each unit comes with 3 diffuser windows x 4 lens positions x 3 electronic modes = 36 configurations. Optional additional accessories, like polarizers, take the calculation to more than 100 configurations!

EFFI Flex2 LED modular bar lights are configurable to a wide range of applications. The user can adapt the optics, the electronics, and the mechanics, thanks to the engineering design. Perhaps you’ll embed the unit in a “forever” deployment mode, never again re-configuring a specific unit once you lock down the optimal settings.

Or maybe you’ll adapt your light again to repurpose it in another application. With the long service life of LED lights, the light may well outlive the application. Or maybe you do multiple applications, and want a light that’s so versatile you can do all your testing in house, letting the lighting drive the final choice of sensor and camera model.

As with the first generation EFFI-Flex product, EFFI-Flex2 series is designed to provide easy adaptation of:

Optics – adjust the lens position and the diffusers
Electronics – built-in multimode driver offers 3 operating modes in one light
Mechanics – optical lengths from 60mm – 2900mm (factory configured)

One-minute video shows key optical and electronic configuration options

Optically, lens positions may be user-adjusted for emission angles ranging from from 90 to 10 degrees. Each unit ships with swappable diffusers for strobed light, diffused, semi-diffused, or opaline light. Further, if necessary for your particular application, optional optical accessories are available: polarizer, linescan film, and cylindrical lens).

Electronically, the built-in multimode driver features 3 electronic modes: AutoStrobe with 450% Overdrive, Adjustable Strobe with controlled intensity from 10% to 100%, and Dimmable Continuous with controlled intensity from 10% to 100%. The 450% Overdrive mode is 1.5 times more powerful than the original EFFI-Flex LED bar light in overdrive.

The driver software makes it easy to select among the 3 modes, and the parameters within each mode.

Mechanics: While the length of a given unit cannot be adapted once delivered, one may order in lengths from as short at 60mm to as long as 2900mm. If your default units are English rather than metric, that’s from less than 3 inches to as much as 9.5 feet!

EFFI-Flex original series remains in production. If you don’t require the flexibility of EFFI-Flex2, with up to 36 configurations per unit shipped, the original series offers great value in its own right. Call us at 978-474-0044 to speak with one of our sales engineers, for guidance, or take out your own appendix with this side-by-side comparison diagram:

Series 1 vs. NextGen EFFI-Flex2 – courtesy of Effilux

1st Vision’s sales engineers have over 100 years of combined experience to assist in your camera and components selection. With a large portfolio of lenses, cables, NIC card and industrial computers, we can provide a full vision solution!

June 26, 2023

10GigE cameras join Teledyne DALSA Genie Nano Series

Derived from 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and adapted to GigE Vision standards, Teledyne DALSA has continued buildout of the Nano series from 1GigE, 2GigE, 5GigE, and now 10GigE.

10GigE Teledyne DALSA Genie Nano – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

The Genie Nano series is now extended from 1, 2.5 and 5GigE with new 10GigE camera models M/C8200 and M/C6200. These are based on Teledyne e2v’s 67Mp and 37Mp monochrome and color sensors. These high resolution sensors generate a lot of image data to transfer to the host computer, but at 10GigE speeds they achieve frame rates to:

15fps – for the 67Mp cameras
20fps – for the 37Mp cameras

There are four new models offered, in color and monochrome versions for each sensor variant. All are GenICam, GigE Vision 2.0 compliant. They are multi ROI with up to 16 x Region of Interest (ROI). The cameras have all-metal bodies and 3 year warranties.

Further, the M/C8200, at 59 mm x 59 mm, is the industry’s smallest 67M 10GigE Vision camera, for those needing high-resolution and high-performance in a comparatively small form factor.

These 10GigE models share all the other features of the Teledyne DALSA Genie Nano Series, for ease of integration or upgrades. Such features include but are not limited to:

Power over Ethernet (PoE) – single cable solution for power, data, and control

Precision Time Protocol (PTP) synchronization of two or more cameras over GigE network, avoiding the need for hardware triggers and controllers

General Purpose Input Output (GPIO) connectors providing control flexibililty

Trigger to Image Reliability (T2IR)

Manage exceptions in a controlled manner
Verify critical imaging events such as lost frames, lines, or triggers
Tag images for traceability

Trigger to Image Reliability (T2IR) – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

Across the wide range of Teledyne DALSA (area scan) cameras shown below, the Genie Nano 10GigE cameras are at the upper end of the already high-performance mid-range.

Genie Nano 10GigE area scan cameras in the Teledyne portfolio – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

June 26, 2023June 27, 2023

New Falcon4-M2240 – 2.8Mpix at up to 1200fps!

Who needs another 2.8Mpix camera? In this case it’s not about the pixel count per se, but about the frame rates and the dynamic range.

With more common interfaces like GigE and 5GigE we expect frame rates from a 2.8 Mpix camera in the range 20 – 120fps, respectively. But with the Camera Link High Speed (CLHS) interface, Teledyne DALSA’s new Falcon4-M2240 camera can deliver up to 1200fps. If your application demands high-speed performance together with 2.8Mpix resolution, this camera delivers.

Besides speed, an even more remarkable feature of the Falcon4-M2240, based on the Teledyne e2v Lince 2.8 MP, is a pixel well depth, or full well capacity, of ~138 [ke-]. THAT VALUE IS NOT A TYPO!! It really is ~138 [ke-]. Other sensors also thought of as high quality offer pixel well depths only 1/10th of this value, so this sensor is a game changer.

Why does pixel well depth matter? Recall the analogy of photons to raindrops, and pixel wells to buckets. With no raindrops, the bucket is empty, just as with no photons quantized to electrons, the pixel well is empty and the monochrome pixel would correspond to 0 or full-black. When the bucket, or pixel well, becomes exactly full with the last raindrop (electron) it can hold, it’s reached it’s full well capacity – the pixel value would be fully saturated at white (for a monochrome sensor).

The expressive capacity of each pixel admits the widest range of values in correlation to the full well capacity before charge overflows, so the camera is calibrated by the designer according to the sensor’s capabilities. Sensors with higher full well capacity are desirable, since they can capture all the nuances of the imaging target, which in turn gives your software maximum image features to identify.

Falcon4 cameras offer highest performance – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

This newest member of the Falcon4 family joins siblings with sensors offering 11, 37, and 67 Mpix respectively. The Falcon4 family represents continues the success of the Falcon2 family, all of which share many common features: These include:

CMOS global shutter
High dynamic range
1000x anti-blooming
M42 to M95 optics mount
Camera Link or Camera Link HS interface

Falcon family members share many features

Even before the new firmware update (V1.02), Falcon4 cameras already offered:

Multiple triggering options
Multiple exposure control options
In sensor binning
Gain control
In camera Look-up-table (LUT)
Pixel correction
… and more

Now with Firmware 1.02 the Falcon4 family gets these additional features:

Multi-ROI
ROI position change by sequencer cycling
Digital gain change by sequencer cycling sequencer cycling of Digital Gain
Exposure change by sequencer cycling
Sequencer cycling of output pulse
Meta Data

Multi-ROI

Higher FPS by sending only ROIs needed – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

Region Of Interest (ROI) capabilities are compelling when an application has defined regions within a larger field that can be read out, skipping the un-necessary regions, thereby achieving much higher framerates than having to transfer the full resolution image from camera to host. It’s like having a number of smaller-sensor cameras, each pointed at their own region, but without the complexity of having to manage multiple cameras. As shown in the image below, the composite image frame rates are equivalent to the single ROI speed gains one might have known on other cameras.

Sequencer cycling of ROI position:

Each trigger changes ROI position – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

Cycling the ROI position for successive images might not seem to have obvious benefits – but what if the host computer could process image 1, while the camera acquires and begins transmitting image 2, and so forth? Overall throughput for the system rises – efficiency gains!

Sequencer cycling of output pulse:

For certain applications, it can be essential to take 2 or more exposures of the same field of view, each under different lighting conditions. Under natural light, one might take a short, medium, and long exposure duration, to hedge on which is best, let the camera or object move to the next position, and let the software decide which is best. Or under controlled lighting, one might image once with white or colored light, then again with an NIR wavelength, knowing that each exposure condition reveals different features relevant to the application.

Metadata:

Metadata may not sound very exciting, and the visuals aren’t that compelling. But sending data along for the ride with each image may be critical for quality control archiving, application analysis and optimization, scheduled maintenance planning, or other reasons of your own choosing. For example, it may be valuable to know at what shutter or gain setting an image was acquired; or to have a timestamp; or to know the device ID from which camera the image came.

The Falcon2 and Falcon4 cameras are designed for use in industrial inspection, robotics, medical, scientific imaging, as well as wide variety of other demanding automated imaging and machine vision applications requiring ultra-high-resolution images.

Representative application fields:

Applications for 67MP Genie Nano – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

June 26, 2023June 26, 2023

Learn how an Allied Vision Mako camera can control your LED light source

In this article we discuss when and why one might want to strobe a light instead of using continuous lighting. While strobing traditionally required a dedicated controller, we go on to introduce that CCS and AVT have published an Application Note showing how the Allied Vision Mako camera can serve as the controller!

While LED lights are often used for continuous lighting, since that’s an easy mode of deployment, sometimes an application is best served with a well-timed strobe effect. This might be for one or more of the following reasons:

to “freeze motion” via light timing rather than shutter control alone;
to avoid the heat buildup from continuously-on lights
overwhelm ambient lighting
maximize lamp lifetime

Let’s suppose you’ve already decided that you require strobe lighting in your application. You’re past “whether” and on to “how to”.

Since you are moving into the realm tight timing tolerances, it’s clear that the following are going to need to be coordinated and controlled:

the strobe light start and stop timing, possibly including any ramp-up delays to full intensity
the camera shutter or exposure timing, including any signal delays to start and stop
possibly the physical position of real world objects or actuators or sensors detecting these

Traditionally, one used and external controller, an additional device, to control both the camera and the lighting. It’s a dedicated device that can be programmed to manage the logical control signals and the appropriate power, in the sequence required. This remains a common approach today – buy the right controller and configure it all, tuning parameters through calculations and empirical testing.

Effilux pulse controller: controls up to 4 lights; output current can reach up to 1A @ 30V in continuous and 10A @ 200V in strobe mode – courtesy Effilux

Call us if you want help designing your application and choosing a controller matched to your camera and lighting requirements.

But wait! Sometimes, thanks to feature-rich lighting equipment and cameras, with the right set of input/output (I/O) connections, and corresponding firmware-supported functionality, one can achieve the necessary control – without a separate controller. That’s attractive if it can reduce the number of components one needs to purchase. Even better, it can reduce the number of manuals one has to read, the number of cables to connect, and the overall complexity of the application.

Let’s look at examples of “controller free” applications, or more accurately, cameras and lights that can effect the necessary controls – without a separate device.

Consider the following timing diagram, which shows the behavior of the Effi-Ring when used in auto-strobe mode. That doesn’t mean it strobes randomly at times of its own choosing! Rather it means that when triggered, it strobes at 300% of continuous intensity until the trigger pulse falls low again, OR 2 seconds elapse, whichever comes first. Then if steps down to continuous mode at 100% intensity. This “2 seconds max” feature, far longer than most strobed applications require, is a design feature to prevent overheating.

OK, cool. So where to obtain that nice square wave trigger pulse? Well, one could use a controller as discussed above. But in the illustration below, where’s the controller?!? All we see are the host computer, an Allied Vision Mako GigE Vision camera, an Effilux LED, a power supply, and some cabling.

Camera exposure signal controls strobe light – courtesy Allied Vision Technologies

How is this achieved without a controller? In this example, the AVT Mako camera and the Effilux light are “smart enough” to create the necessary control. While neither device is “smart” in the sense of so-called smart cameras that eliminate the host computer for certain imaging tasks, the Mako is equipped with opto-isolated general purpose input output (GPIO) connections. These GPIOs are programmable along with many other camera features such as shutter (exposure), gain, binning, and so forth. By knowing the desired relationship between start of exposure, start of lighting, and end of exposure, and the status signals generated for such events, one can configure the camera to provide the trigger pulse to the light, so that both are in perfect synchronization.

Note: During application implementation, it can be helpful to use an oscilloscope to monitor and tune the timing and duration of the triggers and status signals.

Whether your particular application is best served with a controller, or with a camera that doubles as a controller, depends on the application and camera options available. 1stVision carries a wide range of Effilux LED lights in bar, ring, backlight, and dome configurations, together with the ability to be used on continuous or strobe modes.